Centered around the newly released STAGE 6.0, this demonstration showed how tools from our four main product families can be integrated to produce a compelling simulation environment.

The goal of this demonstrator was to show a command and control environment where an instructor can oversee the execution of a tactical scenario, make changes to entity directives, configure stealth viewers to focus on interesting parts of the action, and have live operators take control of specific players in the environment. To achieve this goal, we used a variety of our products in a networked environment, as illustrated in the diagram #1 below:

Diagram #1

Demonstration Overview

The demonstration developed depicted a scenario in which ground and air forces were investigating a reported terrorist hideout in Afghanistan with orders to identify and pursue its occupants if the intelligence information proved accurate. To reproduce this setting accurately, we used our Creator and Terra Vista content creation tools to process and analyze GIS data from the area of interest and re-organize it following the CDB format.

The result was a consolidated CDB repository containing elevation data, imagery and various building and site models that could be leveraged by the rest of our simulation environment. At runtime, each component's Runtime Publisher (RTP) makes requests to the CDB data server to get the information that it needs to render a 2D / 3D or internal memory-based representation of the gaming area. Diagram #2 illustrates data requests between the various CDB clients and the CDB Data Server.

Diagram #2

A direct advantage of this architecture is the fact that you are storing the synthetic environment only once, saving storage and making it easier to update the system only once when new data is available. The data also remains completely stored using its standard formats instead of compiled locked formats, making it possible to access and edit any of these sub-elements. Finally, the data is sent to the clients live at runtime, making it possible to quickly use updated data when available instead of having to re-compile information offline.The creation of this environment involved a large variety of Presagis tools and leveraged their multiple, out-of-the-box integrations to create a dynamic simulation environment. Specifically, we used the following product versions at the show:

• STAGE 6.0
• STAGE Vega Prime 3D Viewer
• AI.implant 5.5
• HeliSIM 6.0
• VAPS XT 3.0
• Creator 4.0.1
• TerraVista 6.0.3
• Presagis Utilities Manager 1.0

Developing the demonstration

Creating a synthetic environment and computer-controlled entities

Starting in the center of  diagram #1 is STAGE, Presagis' Computer-Generated Forces application that provided the synthetic environment in which our exercise took place. It also ran the simulation of all computer-controlled players in the environment. Through the use of behavioral rules called missions, STAGE-controlled entities can carry out a variety of tasks in the scenario and can also react to threats or changes in the environment. At the show, STAGE was running on a touch-enabled monitor provided by Smart Technologies so that the instructor could see the scenario unfold and take control of any aspect of the simulation.

Visualizing the exercise

A second instance of STAGE, shown in the top-center of the diagram, was running in slave mode on a wall-mounted screen to provide a continual global view of the exercise while the instructor would focus on a specific area or bring up dialogs that might obstruct the map view. This execution mode provides a simplified version of the STAGE interface that connects to a running simulation to display all entities and interactions. It would also be possible for an operator to use this second copy of STAGE to control some or all of the entities in the main simulation.

The other two wall-mounted displays, shown on the top-left and top-right corners of the above diagram, were running stealth views of the simulated environment using the STAGE Viewer. Powered by Vega Prime, these viewers were showing high-quality visuals and were controlled by a custom instructor control panel that was designed with VAPS XT and embedded within the main STAGE host on the touch-enabled table.

Adding human interaction

To the left of the main exercise station was a ground station that provided a high-fidelity physics-based simulation of a helicopter. Using HeliSIM, an operator could pilot a realistic helicopter model whose position was reported back to STAGE using the built-in interface between these two applications. Visually, the helicopter control station also featured a STAGE Viewer to simulate out-the-window visuals and a set of simulated avionics created using VAPS XT. To get a feel for the quality of the simulation, show attendees were able to take control the helicopter to participate in the mission and see how the action unfolded.

The station on the right-hand side of the STAGE scenario controller also had a lot of interactive elements since it was configured as a Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) ground control station. This system ran a separate copy of STAGE that simulated the UAS locally and received other simulated entities from the main simulation host across the network. It also reported back the position of the UAS that it simulated to the main simulation. The operator at this station did not control the actual flight of the UAS but rather controlled the slew, pitch and zoom of the camera that it was equipped with. To request a new flight path, the operator could alter the waypoints assigned to the UAS through the STAGE interface. As with other stealth views in this demo, the camera view was simulated using the STAGE Viewer, based on Vega Prime. We also incorporated some overlay graphics on top of the simulated camera view using VAPS XT to give the operator more information about the current camera and UAS position.

Simplifying the configuration and execution of the exercise

The last piece of the puzzle was the newly released Utilities Manager, shown in the bottom-left corner which helps users to easily manage multiple Presagis software applications by allowing them to automate the setup, configuration, validation and manipulation of multiple software tools through one simple graphical user interface. Through the creation of workflows, we were able to quickly configure all applications involved in this simulation and were able to start all of the tasks on multiple systems all from one place.

I hope that you enjoyed getting more insight into this demonstration. Let us know if you would like to see more extensive articles like this one in the future.